Hey, we all make mistakes.
The point is not that we make them. It’s what we learned from those mistakes. See also: Building Maintenance Mistakes that Cost You Time and Money.
If you can, however, it’s easier to learn from other people’s mistakes.
To help, we’ve shared three of the most common mistakes in maintenance management and offered tips to help you avoid them. For the full landscape of strategies, see types of maintenance.
1. Making Decisions Based on Assumptions
While there was a time that maintenance managers needed to make assumptions about what worked for their operations, those days are gone. New technology (i.e., CMMS software) and tools make information available for data-driven decision making. Which means your decisions are backed up by hard data, not guesswork.
This is particularly helpful when sharing maintenance information with other managers who don’t have hands-on maintenance experience. It’s hard to argue when they can see the facts—and the figures—right in front of them.
2. Skimping on Training
No investment pays off as readily as training. Yet many maintenance managers feel they don’t have the time or the budget for training.
These days, however, training is available in all kinds of formats that fit all kinds of budgets. While on-site or classroom training may not be realistic for your organization, you have plenty of other options—including online training and mentor programs. Some training programs are just an hour a week.
And your investment in training pays off with every work order as your team becomes more efficient.
3. Refusing to Change with the Times
Maintenance management has changed rapidly in a short time. And while you might feel like things worked just fine before, staying the course means missed opportunities.
Technology has taken the maintenance professional by storm, and it’s not going away. In fact, it’s now a “must have” in maintenance departments.
And the type of technology has changed too. Where just 5-10 years ago, you were probably tapping away at a desktop computer or implementing your first CMMS software, now you’ve got a mobile phone or tablet in your hand checking for information while you’re walking around the plant or facility. Take advantage of these technology advances to make your department more productive.
Plus, your maintenance team has changed too. Your older employees are retiring. And finding replacements isn’t a simple task. You’ll need to make your maintenance positions appealing to a different generation with a different mindset, particularly because they’ve grown up with technology and are extremely comfortable with it.
What maintenance management mistakes have you made? How did you fix them?
Contact us.
